Production of adjustable coherent radiation through parametric amplification from a fixed frequency laser beam is effected through a device known as an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The theoretical rational and complexities associated with parametric amplification and OPOs are well known to those skilled in the art.
In a conventional OPO, the OPO receives a beam of laser radiation at a pump frequency .omega.p from a pump source. The pump frequency .omega.p is received into a resonant optical cavity, wherein pump frequency .omega.p is directed through a nonlinear medium, usually a crystal, located within the resonant cavity. As a result, two lower energy signals are converted from the pump frequency .omega.p known as the signal frequency .omega.s and idler frequency .omega.i.
The content and orientation of the crystal and the design of the resonant cavity determines the signal .omega.s and idler .omega.i frequencies. The feedback within the resonant cavity causes gain in the parametric waves, a process similar to build-up in a laser cavity. The cavity can either be singly resonant in which end mirrors reflect only signal frequency .omega.s, or doubly resonant in which end mirrors reflect both signal .omega.s and idler .omega.i frequencies. End mirrors of the OPO are transparent to the pump frequency .omega.p. OPOs with singly resonant cavities are typically more stable in their output than OPOs with doubly resonant cavities.
Due to the nature of the nonlinear crystal and the conversion process, the pump frequency .omega.p is always higher than the frequency of the signal frequency .omega.s and idler .omega.i frequencies. The sum of the signal .omega.p and idler .omega.i frequencies is equal to the pump frequency .omega.p.
Power and energy conversion efficiency of the idler frequency .omega.i generation in an OPO is limited by the quantum efficiency and photon efficiency. Since idler frequency .omega.i is less than half of the pump frequency .omega.p, the quantum limit is always less than half and significantly more so when the idler frequency .omega.i is far from degeneracy. Furthermore, for pulsed OPOs, pump regeneration from signal .omega.s and idler .omega.p frequency reduces photon conversion efficiency due by temporally and/or spatially varying pump radiation. Nevertheless, idler .omega.i output provides a useful means of generating coherent radiation in spectral regions that are difficult to access by other sources.
There are a variety of types of crystals that may be used in OPOs for various spectral regions. In particular, nonlinear optical crystals capable of producing parametric output which have been developed for commercial applications, include, but are not limited to, potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP), potassium titanyl arsenate (KTA), lithium niobate (LiNbO.sub.3), potassium niobate (KNbO.sub.3), silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe.sub.2), and silver gallium sulfide (AgGaS.sub.2). When a fixed laser is used to generate tunable waves from certain crystals, an electric field may be applied to the crystal, or the crystal may be temperature or angle tuned, or a combination of electrical voltage, temperature and/or angle tuning is required.
Periodically poled LiNbO.sub.3 (PPLN) has been shown to be particularly well-suited for OPO wavelength generation in the 1.4-4.0 .mu.m region due to its low threshold, large non-linear coefficient, large acceptance angles, absence of walk-off, and transparency in this region (L. E. Myers, R. C. Eckardt, M. M. Fejer, R. L. Byer, W. R. Bosenberg, and J. W. Pierce, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B12, 2102-2116 (1995)). Although continuous wave OPOs utilizing PPLN have demonstrated high conversion efficiencies (W. R. Bosenberg, A. Drobshoff, J. I. Alexander, L. E. Myers, and R. L. Byer, Opt. Lett. 21, 1336-1338 (1996)), typically pulsed OPOs have not yet approached continuous wave OPO efficiencies due to factors such as back conversion of the pump wave and non-uniform pump depletion. Conversion schemes using tandem and intracavity difference frequency mixing (DFM) OPOs have been proposed and analyzed (K. Koch, G. T. Moore, and E. C. Cheung, J. Opt, Soc. Am. B 12, 2268-2273 (1995); and G. T. Moore and K. Koch, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 32, 2085-2094 (1996)) and may help mitigate some of the limitations inherent in pulsed OPOs, however, such suggested approaches fail to significantly increase conversion efficiency.
Reference may be had to the following patents for further information concerning the state of the technology relating to OPOs (all of the references are incorporated herein by reference):
U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,173, issued Mar. 21, 1995 entitled "Tunable Mid-Infrared Wavelength Converter Using Cascaded Parametric Oscillators" to Komine, describes an apparatus for converting a fixed wavelength signal into a plurality of spectral output beams. The first resonator is coupled to a first nonlinear optical crystal for turning said first and second output beams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,865, issued Mar. 19, 1996 entitled "Phased Cascading Of Multiple Nonlinear Optical Elements For Frequency Conversion", to Chakmakjian, uses two or more crystals in tandem to increase the interaction length of the nonlinear optical process for improved efficiency. Additional optical components are inserted into the optical path to adjust the phase delay of the interacting waves in order to maintain coherent generation of the product radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,923, issued Jan. 27, 1987, entitled, "Optical Parametric Oscillator Using Urea Crystal", to Tang, et al., uses a crystal of urea as the nonlinear optical medium for constructing an OPO.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,487, issued Oct. 27, 1992, entitled "Optical Parametric Oscillator OPO Having A Variable Line Narrowed Output", to Geiger et al., describes an OPO that includes a pump laser for producing a pump beam; an optical resonator; an OPO crystal disposed within the optical resonator aligned with and responsive to the pump beam to produce a parametrically generated output; and a device external to the optical resonator for line narrowing the parametrically generated output.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,630, issued Sep. 1, 1992, entitled "Multiwavelength Solid Stated Laser Using Frequency Conversion Technique", to Lin, describes an apparatus for producing multiwavelength coherent radiations ranging from deep ultraviolet to mid-infrared. The basic laser is a pulsed Nd:YAG or Nd:YLF laser which is frequency converted by a set of novel nonlinear crystals including D-CDA, LBO, BBO, KTP and KNBO.sub.3 where efficient schemes using noncritical phase matching and cylindrical focussing are employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,126, issued May 26, 1992, entitled "Stacked Optical Parametric Oscillator", to Geiger, describes a stacked OPO wherein two optical parametric crystals are coaxially disposed in a single resonator, Incident radiation is coupled to the resonator and causes parametric oscillations of the two crystals. The two crystals are independently tuned, such as by angular orientation to produce distinct components of secondary radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,445, issued Jan. 7, 1992, entitled "High Output Coupling Cavity Design For Optical Parametric Oscillators", to Guyer, discloses a cavity design for use with a nonlinear medium which may be used as an oscillator using pump energy with frequency (FP) interacting with the nonlinear medium for parametrically generating outputs having a signal frequency (FS) and an idler frequency (FI). The parametric radiation which is produced satisfy the relationship which is common for optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators FP=FS+FI.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,260, issued Dec. 3, 1991, entitled "Ultrahigh-Resolution Optical Parametric Oscillator Frequency Measurement and Synthesis System", to Wong, discloses one or more OPOs which are arranged selectively, singly, serially, and/or in parallel and each OPO is responsive to an input pump beam having a fractional stability to produce output signals and idler beams having fractional stabilities that correspond to or are better than the fractional stability of the pump beam and in such a way that the sum of the frequencies of the output signal and idler beams of each OPO is constrained to be equal to the frequency of the input beam thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,668, issued Sep. 10, 1991, entitled "Optical Walkoff Compensation In Critically Phase-Matched Three-Wave Frequency Conversion Systems". to Bosenberg, discloses a walkoff-compensation frequency conversion system such as an OPO including a pair of nonlinear crystals such as: Beta-Barium Metaborate, aligned in an optical cavity with their optical axis at an angle with respect to the axis of the cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,277, issued Nov. 28, 1989, to Anthon, et al., discloses an intracavity frequency-modified laser of improved amplitude stability which is obtained through the use of a pluarity of nonlinear optical crystals within the laser cavity.
It is evident that it would be desirable to overcome the disadvantages of the stated art by providing an apparatus that uses the conversion scheme of tandem nonlinear crystal in an OPO-DFM structure but which substantially increased the conversion efficiency.